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cadet blogs
3/c Summer: Guam and Eagle
(The Cadet Experience, Class of 2013)
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Coming back to classes and homework after the summer is always tough, especially when you’ve had an awesome summer. For my 3/c summer I spent five weeks with the CGC
Sequoia
in Guam and six weeks sailing aboard the
Eagle
. Even though my cutter in Guam did not get underway, I have never before learned so much in such a short span of time. The crew was awesome. They taught me a ton about the
Sequoia
, “The Black Pearl of the Pacific” and they included the 1/c cadet that I was there with and me in a lot of the cool stuff that they did. While I was there, I got hands-on experience learning how to use pipe-patching kits, submersible pumps, fire hoses, and eductors and earned my basic damage control qualification. I also practiced shooting pistol at the range and got pepper-sprayed as part of a qualification I will need eventually when I become a boarding officer.
In Guam, I also got underway with the CGC
Washington
for a short time, and drove the 110-foot cutter while we were practicing man-overboard approaches. I spent a week with the small boat station there in Apra Harbor learning about the 25-foot small boats that they use. One of the coolest things I did was participate in tactical training with them. I was harnessed into the gun on the bow as the coxswain did 180-degree turns going over 30 knots. While we weren’t on duty, the other cadet and I got scuba qualified and saw some of the most amazing coral reefs and tropical fish in the world. I went snorkeling, hiking, cliff-jumping, and cave swimming. Overall, it was a really awesome five weeks.
For the second half of the summer I was on
Eagle
. My phase began in Cozumel, Mexico; sailed to Veracruz, Mexico; Corpus Christi, Texas; Tampa, Florida; and departed from Fort Lauderdale. Since
Eagle
is an experience that pretty much all cadets will have, I’ll just share a couple brief stories with you.
On the way to Corpus Christi, we were sailing behind Hurricane Alex. The winds were so strong that they actually ripped a couple of sails and parted a few sheets (snapped the lines that you use to trim the sails). We were healed over at a 30-degree list and went through some good-sized waves.
Another cool thing that happened was one night a bunch of friends and I decided to climb up to the royal, the highest yardarm, to watch the sunset. It was a really calm, clear night, and just as the sun slipped below the horizon it turned from orange to green for a split second. The green flash is a pretty rare thing to see, so it was especially cool to see it from the royals. 3/c summer is a ton of fun, and I can’t wait to graduate and get out into the fleet.
As always, if you’ve got any questions feel free to email me at
Julia.T.Kane@uscga.edu
.
More about Julie.
Posted by Leann Strickland at 2/14/2012 9:16 AM